Watch Tesla's new AI self-driving work like a road-reading robotaxi
Published on Oct 18, 2023 at 4:37 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Oct 19, 2023 at 1:55 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Tesla’s new AI self-driving demo looks like a mind-reading robotaxi
Tesla has released a new video of its full self-driving capability in action.
Posted to X, the clip was filmed driving around Austin, Texas.
You can check out the full self-driving demo below:
“Tesla Full Self-Driving capability demo in Austin FSD capability features use vision neural networks to perceive & understand the world, just like humans do,” the post caption reads.
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“Via our unique fleet learning approach, we are able to collect anonymized data from our vehicles—meaning the neural nets have learned from a few orders of magnitude more driving scenarios than the average human driver (including unusual & weird ones!)”
The five-minute drive shows a much-longer and edited no-intervention drive as the driver sits unreactive but attentive (as per a disclaimer).
The drive begins on residential streets before graduating to heavier traffic on main roads.
It navigates some complicated lane changes and highway merging along the way.
Tesla has not currently released information on driver intervention, system failures, and accidents that would constitute a level-3 or level-4 self-driving capability sustym.
The post comes after CEO and co-founder of Tesla and owner of X, Elon Musk, hosted a livestream in August in the Bay Area of San Francisco.
The livestream was done in his Model S using an unreleased version of FSD, version 12 to showcase the new neural net-based vehicle controls.
However, poor filming and video quality coupled with issues with the self-driving capability system meant it was far from a success.
Tesla’s new and altogether more professional-looking video was a better demonstration of the brand’s latest FSD Beta capability.
Posted yesterday (17 Octboer), the video has already been viewed 3m times at the time of writing.
Bizarrely the video doesn’t confirm the exact model of FSD Beta testing the Tesla feature.
And, unlike some other Tesla functions, including the self-diagnosis tool, the EV’s self-driving capabilities have got people excited.
V12 uses end-to-end AI, making decisions and actioning them based only on visual input from cameras.
This is rather than relying on hundreds of thousands of lines of code letting it know what to do.
However, a disclaimer at the bottom of the shot states that it is “version 11.4.7 or later”.
So it’s safe to assume that the demo isn’t featuring the latest neural network-based vehicle controls.
Tesla’s over-video disclaimer also states that the “hands-on steering wheel requirement was disabled” for the demo, dubbed “Elon Mode”.
It notes that this is not how FSD Beta is meant to be used and “customers cannot disable this feature”.
“All drivers must remain attentive and be ready to take over at any time,” it said.
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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
